them
who still believed in the vision of the Isle Beautiful and were still
hopeful that they might get there. "All we want is another crew," these
said to us.

Our skipper shook his head, and then talked to them plainly, calling
upon me to corroborate him.

"You will never get a crew. No sailor-man would ever come to sea in
a crate like this. And you'll find no islands anywhere in the Pacific
where you can settle down, unless you can pay for it. The natives will
chivvy you off if you try to land. I know them--you don't. The people in
America who encouraged you in this business were howling lunatics. Your
ship is falling to pieces, and I warn you that if you once leave this
lagoon in her, you will never see land again."

They were silent, and then the old man began to weep, and said they
would there and then pray for guidance.

"All right," said the skipper, "go ahead, and I'll get my mate and the
carpenter to come and tell you their opinion of the state of this brig."

The mate and carpenter made an examination, told Captain Richards in
front of his passengers that the ship was utterly unseaworthy, and that
he would be a criminal if he tried to put to sea again. That settled the
business, especially after they had asked me to value their trade goods,
and I told them frankly that they were literally not worth valuing, and
to throw them overboard.

Ten days later the Brotherhood broke up--an American trading schooner
came into the lagoon and her captain offered to take them to Jakuit in
the Marshall Islands, where they were certain of getting a passage to
Honolulu in some whaleship. They all accepted with the exception of
Richards and his wife who refused to leave the _Julia_. The poor fellow
had his pride and would not desert his ship. However, as his wife was
ailing, he had a small house built on shore and managed to make a few
hundred dollars by boat-building. But every day he would go off and have
a look round the old brig to see if everything on board was all right
Then one night there came a series of heavy squalls which raised a
lumpy sea in the lagoon, and when morning broke only her top-masts were
visible--she had gone down at her anchors.

Richards and his fellow-cranks were the forerunners of other bands of
ignorant enthusiasts who in later years endeavoured to foist themselves
upon the natives of the Pacific Islands and met with similar and
well-merited disaster. Like the ill-fated "La Nouvelle France